Post navigation

The Best Piece of Information…Ever!

Here’s the most important piece of information I think I’ve ever come across…with the possible exception of finding out the Beatles were going to make their first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show on Sunday February 9, 1964 … and that is, 80% of the immune system lies in the gastrointestinal tract.

Now it’s interesting that I only just learned this recently, because I studied physiology in both high school and university, although I suspect anyone who experienced the social part of these fine institutions of higher learning could probably provide me with a pretty good synopsis of why I didn’t learn then what I know now.

And why is this information so incredibly important? The state of our body’s health…both physical and mental…is controlled exclusively by our immune system and because the bulk of it resides in our gastrointestinal tract, what we eat has a far more profound effect on our health than I previously understood.

And why is this information so important to me personally? I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease a few years ago, and not once has the clinic I visit twice a year mentioned anything about the importance of diet in restoring my health.

When God … or whatever else you believe created life here on earth … created the human body, God created perfection … an intricate network of structures and interconnected systems designed to support life. Included in this network of interconnected systems is the immune system, whose sole purpose is to keep the body healthy by detecting and destroying foreign substances.

The immune system is also interconnected with the central nervous system (CNS) and endocrine system, which includes the thyroid, adrenals, pineal and other glands. Similar or complimentary neurotransmitters and hormones are produced in all three systems. Because they are interconnected, whatever affects one, affects the other. Diseases such as Parkinson’s, MS and ALS (Lou Gehrig’s) are neuro-endocrine or neurological diseases and these conditions arise in part because the immune system has been compromised.

Only one thing compromises our immune system’s ability to do it’s job and that is stress!

There are four types of stress that affect the immune system: first, an unhealthy diet; second, physical trauma (such as an accident or fall); third, day-to-day stress (mostly in the form of worry); and fourth, unexpressed and unresolved emotional pain, particularly from early childhood experiences.

Diet, as we all know, plays a significant role in the condition of our body. As the old saying goes, ‘you are what you eat.’ If you eat unhealthy foods, your body will not be in the best of shape. It’s as simple as that. But an unhealthy diet does more than just lead to obesity, sluggishness, clogged arteries and bunged up colons. It actually impairs, if not totally prevents, your immune system’s ability to to keep the body free of disease.

Let’s use the aforementioned education system to create an analogy. We all went to school. Imagine what would happen if you dumped loads and loads of garbage and sewage into your school everyday. It wouldn’t be long before the maintenance workers would no longer be able to remove this stuff, nor would they have time to maintain or fix the lights, doors, windows, washrooms or heating systems that are critical to keeping the building in proper working order. Pretty soon, the school would be in total disrepair.

The same is true of our immune system. If it is constantly exposed to excess amounts of sugar, artificial sweeteners, alcohol, junk foods, fast foods, factory farmed meat and chemical laden processed foods as they pass through the gastrointestinal tract, it’s ability to function normally becomes completely compromised to the point that is no longer able to combat foreign invaders like bacteria and viruses. That’s also when our other systems, such as the CNS and endocrine system breakdown. And that’s when we get sick; when disease overcomes our bodies.

It’s certainly a challenge to eliminate these foods from our diets, but clearly, the more we minimize them, the healthier we’ll be and the better chance we’ll have to recover from illness. And that’s why this information is so important to me. It gives me confidence that by restoring my immune system’s health the disease I was told was incurable can in fact be cured.

Now, would somebody show me the way to the front door from the Principal’s office. I’m tired of being in detention!